Week #1 - GET ORGANIZED CHALLENGE - Creative Scrapbooker

Welcome to the 12 week Get Organized Challenge. I’m so glad you’re here. Our goal this week is to set a foundation for getting and staying organized.

Why are you doing this?
Identifying why you want to get and stay organized is a necessity for success.

“I want to get organized because…

I feel overwhelmed when I try to craft, and it’s not fun anymore, I want crafting to be fun again.
I feel like I’m wasting most of my crafting time looking for supplies instead of crafting, I want to get more done during my crafting time.
I want to have friends and family come over and craft with me, but I don’t have space for them right now.
I have invested lots of money in my craft supplies, I want to feel like I’m getting the value for the money spent.
I’d love to travel to crafting events, whether it’s an evening event or a weekend, but packing up to travel with my supplies right now would take longer than the actual event.

These are just a few examples, identify your reasons for wanting to get organized and write them down – more on this later.

A good system is mandatory!
The most important thing is a good system that you can rely on regardless of the type of craft supply you’re trying to organize. So often we get hung up in thinking that we need to keep things together by type of thing, rather than by how they are used. The mantra for organizing over the next 12 weeks – Keep things together you use together.

We’ll begin with organizing basic paper crafting supplies using the 4 Section System. This system is EASY to remember and use because it’s based on things we already know.

Section 1 – Alphabets, Numbers & Punctuation Marks
Section 2 – Themes & Sentiments A-Z
Section 3 – The Calendar Year
Section 4 – The Rainbow

Additional 4 Section System Resources:

Printable details about using the 4 Section System
4 Section System Video
Winter 2018 – Creative Scrapbooker Magazine, Organized Crafter article – Getting your brain around getting organized.

Prepare to PURGE.
Purging is a really important part of getting your craft supplies organzied. Setting a purge goal will help you move through eliminating the things in your craft area you’ll most likely never use.

Write your Themes & Sentiments List
This is a list of all of the things you craft about – Baby, Beach, Birthday, Bon Voyage, Camping, Congratulations, Sports, Travel… (Download an example list here.)

Whether you’re a scrapbooker, cardmaker, mixed media artist there always themes and sentiments involved in our creations.
Put your list in alphabetical order – this will guide you through the process of sorting your supplies.

Go Public – get a friend on board if you can!
Telling someone about your goal to get organized is one of the best ways to ensure you’ll get it done. If you’ve got a crafty friend, who also could use a little organization, even better! Get her/him involved in this challenge and you can hold each other accountable.

Commit to rewarding yourself
Rewards along the way are very helpful and can keep you motivated and inspired to keep going. What will your reward be for accomplishing your organization goal each week?

Start a 12 Week Challenge Notebook
You can create a real notebook or a virtual notebook – which ever works best for you.

Include in your notebook:

Your Why
Themes & Sentiments List
Your rewards
Downloads, Printables and Checklists from each challenge.

What kind of crafter are you?
Do you always craft at home, always in the same place or do you prefer to travel and craft – across town or across the country? Identifying the type of crafter you are will help you make better decisions about the type of tools you should use to organize your supplies.

Evaluate your current craft space
Ideally your craft supplies should be visible and easily accessible. Take a look around your space – could you reconfigure a shelving unit, take doors off cabinets, or lids off totes. Can you stack things vertically instead of horizontally in order to make them more accessible?

Clear out a spot for your newly organized supplies
Next week we’re going to start with organizing paper. Where will this newly organized paper be stored once it is organized? Try to have an empty space ready and waiting for your “organized only” supplies.

Gather your supplies
If you’ve got craft supplies stashed around your house, maybe HSN boxes in the garage, or Hobby Lobby bags in the trunk of your car – try to bring as much as you can into craft area.

This week’s challenge checklist:

Create your 12 Week Get Organized Challenge Notebook – physical or digital.
Write down your “Why” include it in your notebook and post it where you can see it every day.
Follow the links above/below to read the 4 Section System article or watch the more detailed video.
What type of Crafter Are you – read the blog post
Create your Themes & Sentiments
Take a few before pictures
Gather your supplies together in one room or space.
Set your Purge Goals, Get a Purge box, Decide where your Purge will go. Don’t fear the PURGE. Read the Purge Patrol article or watch the video.
Evaluate your space and tools – remember Visible and Accessible, what do you need, how can rearranging what currently have to make your space more efficient?
Create an Organized Only space – a clean empty area where you’ll store your newly organized items.
Go Public!!!
Enter this week’s contest.
Celebrate with your reward!